Coin distributor



May 30, 1933. w. A. TRATscH COIN DISTRIBUTOR Filed NOV. 9, 1932 Patented May 30, 1933 Uiiti) STATES .VLTER A.. TR'ATSCH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS COIN DISTRIBUTOR Application filed November 9, 1932. Serial No. 641,934.

This invention relates to coin chut-es and more particularly to a distributor for the coins inserted by means of a coin slide, having' for its object to provide a construction simple in parts and more eiiicient in operation'tl an those heretofore proposed.

With these and other objects in view this invention resides iii the novel details ofconstruction and combinations of parts as will be disclosed more fully hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims. n

Referring to the accompanying .drawing forming' a part of this specilicationin which like numerals designate like parts in all the views.,d l n Fig'. l is a side elevational view of a coin slidebto which this invention has been applied; n Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical sectional view through the parts illustrated in Fiel;

Fig. l is a perspective view or tne distributor member forming a part of this invention;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken as on( the line 4-4 of Fig. l and looking in the direction of the arrows; and

5 is a rear end elevation of the parts shown in Fig'. l.

in order that this invention may be better understood it is said that in many amusement devices. including` games, there is a reward automatically given to the operator as a result of a predetermined amount of skill in his play. Many machines of this type have a jack pot or special receptacle in which contained a plurality of coins, trade tokens, the like, which jack pot when released, through seine predetermined amount of skill on the( 1`.art of the player', will discharge the conte thereof into a chute for delivery to the player as his reward. In some machines the ai ack pot has to be manually filled, while in other machines the jack pots are automatically iilled through a distribution of the coins inserted by previous players, and it is to this last type of machine that the present invention is particularly applied. That is to sav, by this invention a certain percentage of the inserted coins is directed through one chute to a jack pot, the remainder being automatically passed through a different chute to be collected in a coin box, said remainder being representative of the profit accruing to the owner of the machine.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates the front wall of a suitable cabinet containing the gaine device and its mechanism, the outer face of said wall having secured thereto, as by the screw 2, a bracket 3 which carries a guide 4 for a coin slide 5, the slide and its guide being of any well known construction usually found in devices of this character. The outer end of the slide is provided with an upturned end 6 constituting a handle and when the slide is in its outermost position the coin opening 7 thereof will be in registry with an opening 8 of slightly less diameter in the bottom of the guide 4, whereby only coins of the requisite diameter will be moved by the slide because smaller coins will automatically drop through the opening 8 in the slide guide. The slide is moved to its outermost position with respect to the cabinet by virtue of a heavy duty coil spring 9 one end of which is secured to an extension of the bracket 3 and the other end of which is secured to a pin l0 depending from the innermost end of said slide.

The slide is provided with a longitudinal-l ly extending slot 15 (see Figs. 2 and 4) and the innermost end of the guide carries an upstanding lug 16 adapted to ride in said slot when the slide is reciprocated. This slot is so positioned in the slide that the lug 85 16 will engage the innermost end of said slot when the coin apertures 7 and 8 are in registry, and said lug will engage the other end of said slot to limit the inward travel of said slide. As usual in constructions of this character the slide is permitted a full inward stroke only when it contains a coin of predetermined characteristics such as size, denomination, thickness, etc. and when the slide makes its full intended inward movement, its innermost end will strike or engage suitable mechanism to actuate the vending, playing, or other function of the device to which this slide is attached. Also, the slide preferably has associated therewith suitable mechanism for preventing the full intended inward movement thereof when it contains no coin, or when it contains a washer or similar device which is apertured and intended for fraudulent use in the slide. These various and well known mechanisms are not illustrated in the drawing for the sake of clearness, but will be readily understood from reference to applicants co-pending application Serial No. 573,173 led Nov. 5, 1931, and entitled Coin slide. Therefore, it will be distinctly understood that this invention covers an attachment to coin slides which will only function when the slide is permitted its full inward and intended stroke.

The bottom wall of the guide 4 is provided near its innermost end with a coin discharge opening 17 and disposed therebelow is a coin distributor generally identified by the numeral 18 which is rigidly secured to a shaft 19 the ends of which are journalled in bracket members 20 and 21 secured to the front wall 1 of the cabinet as by the screws 22. The distributor is illustrated as a block having four operative faces but this number may be increased or diminished in accordance with the percentage of coin receipts desired as profit by the owner of the game.

These faces are respectively identified by the numerals 23, 24, and 26, three of which have substantially rectangular relation with each other and are so positioned as to direct coins falling thereon into one chute such as 27. The fourth face 26 is so disposed angularly to the remaining faces that a coin falling thereon will be directed in a substantially opposite direction into a second chute suoli as 28. Hence it will be understood that this distributor 18, as illustrated, will automatically divide all of the coins inserted by the slide 5 so that 75% will pass into the chute 27 leading to a suitable container such as a jack pot and 25% will fall into the chute 28 and accrue as profits to the benefit of the owner of the game device. The shaft 19 is so located that in its revolution it will successively bring each coin receiving face into position beneath the coin discharge opening 17 to receive a coin therefrom and direct it as hereinbefore stated.

Means are provided for retaining the distributor 18 in correct coin receiving positions, said means being particularly illustrated in Figs. 1, 4 and 5. One end of the shaft 19 is extended beyond the bracket 21 to receive thereon a disk 30 secured as by a pin 31, and on the outer face of this disk are suitably mounted four pins 32, 33, 34 ant 35 which are substantially placed at the periphery of the disk, 90o apart, and the disk 30 is so positioned on the shaft that when anytwo of these pins are in a plane parallel to the guide 4, the faces of the distributor will be in correct positions to receive coins from said guide.

-Naturally with a greater or lesser number of be increased or diminished, there being provided one pin for each coin-receiving face.

To the bracket 21 is pivoted as at 36 a holding lever generally indicated by the numeral 37, the free end of which constitutes a holding arm 38 the upper edge of which contacts with a pair of said pins, there being provided a light coil spring 39 connected between the outermost end of said arm and a bracket member 40 rigidly secured across the innermost ends of the shaft journal brackets 2O and 21. From Fig. 1 it will therefore be seen that this spring 39 creates a tension to swing the lever 37 so as to bring the edge of the arm 38 thereof into contact with two of the pins such as 33 and 34 of the disk 30, thereby preventing accidental revolution of the shaft 19. When these two particular pins 33 and 34 are so positioned by the arm 38, the face 25 of the distributor 18 will be in the position shown in Fig. 2, ready to receive a coin from the discharge opening 17 of the slide guide and to direct said coin into the chute 27.

The rear end of the coin slide carries a piu serving as a pivot for a detent generally indicated by the numeral 46, said pin operable in a slot 47 at the inner end of said detent. There is also provided a pin 48 on the detent to which is secured one end of a coil spring 49, the other end of which is secured to the front wall 1 of the cabinet, (though in Fig. 1 the outer end of this spring is shown unsecured because of the breaking-away of said wall to clearly show the outer end of the detent 46), said spring 49 being of greater strength than the light spring 39, but it should be stated that the heavy duty spring 9 is much stronger than the combined springs 39 and 49`wherefore the return of the coin slide is positively provided. A guard plate 50 is positioned over the upper edge of the detent member to prevent movement of the latter above a horizontal plane, and the bracket 40 is provided with a transversely extending plate portion 51 to prevent the free end of said detent member from extending below the plane of said plate member.

The operation of the device is as follows. Vhcn a coin of requisite characteristics is inserted in the coin opening 7 of the slide 5 and the slide is moved inwardly to the full limit of its stroke, the detent 46 will be moved with the slide by virtue of the pin 45 engaging the innermost end of the slot 47 of said detent.

This places the spring 49 under tension, and I the lower edge of said detent will ride over the upper surfaces of the pins 32 and 35 carried by the disk 30 associated with the distributor shaft 19, Near the end of the inner stroke of the coin slide, the free end of the detent will ride off the pin 35 and, because the coil spring 49 has its inner end secure( along the upper edge of said detent and its outer end secured to the cabinet wall in a plane below the pin 48, the tension of said spring will cause :the detent to oscillateabout its pivot Ll5 whereupon the free end of said detent will drop downwardly but ride upon the upper' surface of the plate portion 51 of the bracket 40. When the coin slide has reached the limit of its intended inward stroke, the coin opening 7 will be in registry with the coin release openino` 17 in the guide 4 whereupon the coin will drop through the latter onto the face of the distributor 18 and be deflected therefrom in a. direction toward the front wall of the cabinet and into the chute 27.

Vhen the coin slide is released, the heavy duty spring 9 will cause its return in an outward direction with respect to the cabinet and, during this movement, the free end of the detent still riding on the bottom plate of the bracket will have its edge portion come in Contact with the side of the pin of the disk 30, whereupon the detent will -be momentarily stopped. Continued outward movement of the coin slide causes the pivot pin carried thereby to ride to the other end of the slot 47 of the detent and' when it reaches said end the force of the spring 9 will be sullicient to continue the outward movement of the detent, forcing the pin 35 upwardly and in a direction toward the left as seen in Fig. 1, the light spring 39 and the holding lever 37 yielding while the disk 30 is rotated by the movement of said pin. When the diametrically opposed pins 35 and' 33 have passed the vertical plane passing through the shaft 19, then the disk 30 will snap until the pins 33 and 32 are contacted'by the arm of the holding lever, and the pins 34 and 35 come into contact with the. lower edge of the detent, said snapping being due to the action of the springs 39 and 49.

In other words, the disk 30 will berotated counter clockwise as shown in Fig. 1 through thereby bringing face 2li of the distributor into position for receiving the next inserted coin when it is ultimately released. Continued outward movement of the coin slide then merely returns said slide to its position for receiving said next inserted coin.

The next or second inward movement of the coin slide, with the proper coin contained therein, will cause a repetition of the movements just above described except that the contained coin when released will be deflected by the face 24 of the distributor, but said coin will still fall into the chute 27. Also the outward movement or return of the coin slide will cause another similar 90 revolution of the shaft 19 and thus bring the face 23 up under the coin release opening into position for deilecting the next inserted coin also into the chute 27. Upon the next or third inward and outward movement of the coin slide, however, the face 26 of the distributor will be brought under the coin release opening 17, and this face is so positioned that it be observed that three coins are consecutively passed into the chute 27 and the fourth coin is passed to the chute 28.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction as Well as arrangements of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention, and therefore it is not desired to be limited to the foregoing except as may be required by the claims.

What is claimed is `1. In combination a coin slide; means actuated by the return stroke of said slide and provided with a plurality of faces successively brought into position to receive the coin released from said slide, said faces when brought into coin receiving positions having different angles of inclinations with respect to the plane of said slide whereby the released coins are caused to travel in a plurality of directions; and means for holding the coin i directing means in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

2. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means actuated by said slide for moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means for holding said distributor in the position towhich it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin. i

3. In combination a coin slide having an operative stroke as well as a return stroke; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide on its operative stroke,

said distributor having faces which when` brought into com receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; mea-ns actuated by said slide on its return stroke'for moving said distributor to bring a dill'erent face thereof into coin receiving position; and means for holding said distributor in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

4. In combination a coin slide; a shaft: a distributor movable with said shaft and disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means actuated by said slide for moving said shaft to cause said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving posi- 'Idil after the release of the next inserted coin.

5. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide; said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means actuated by said slide and including a member having a plurality of projections one for each operative face of said distributor, said means for moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means engagea-ble with said projections for holding said distributor in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inser-ted coin.

6. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means actuated by said slide and including a disk member having a plurality of projections one for each operative face of said distributor, said means for moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means engageable with said projections for holding said distributor in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

7 In combination a coin slide; a shaft; a distributor movable with said shaft and disposed to receive a coin released from said slide; said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means actuated by said slide and including a member rotatable with said shaft and having a plurality of projections one for each operative face of said distributor, said means for moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means engageable with said projections for holding said distributor in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

8. In combination a coin slide; a shaft; a distributor rotatable With said shaft and disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means actuated by said slide for moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means for holding said distributor in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

9. In combination a coin slide; a shaft; a distributor rotatable with said shaft and disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which When brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means actuated by said slide and including a member rotatable with said shaft and having a plurality of projections one for each operative face of said distributor, said means for moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means engageable With said projections for holding said distributor in the position to Whichv it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

l0. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means actuated by said slide for moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and pivoted means for holding said distributor in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

l1. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which When brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means actuated by said slide and including a detent member for moving said distributor step by step to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means for holding said distributor in the position to Which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

l2. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means actuated by said slide for moving said distributor to bring said faces successively into coin receiving position; and means for holding said distributor in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

13. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are vdifferently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a pluralit Y of directions; means carried by said slide or moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means for holding said distributor in the poioo iso

sition to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

14. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces Which When brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; a. detent pivoted to said slide and a member movable with said distributor for moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means for holding said distributor in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

l5. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means for moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means for holding said distributor in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

16. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means including a member having a plurality of projections one for each operative face of said distributor, said means for moving said distributor to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means engageable with said projections for holding said distributor in the position to which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

17. In combination a coin slide; a distributor disposed to receive a coin released from said slide, said distributor having faces which when brought into coin receiving positions are differently directed to cause the released coins to travel in a plurality of directions; means including a detent member for moving said distributor step by step to bring a different face thereof into coin receiving position; and means for holding said distributor in the position to Which it is moved until after the release of the next inserted coin.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WALTER A. TRATSCH. 

